The morning finds Ivy Morgan, Jonas Markham, and Ray Brannigan deep in discussion at the breakfast table of the Shoremist Inn. Ivy, convinced that there’s a connection between Mayor Hoag (descendent of Captain Abner Ezekiel Hoag, author of the Ponape Scriptures) and the strange events plaguing Kingsport, wants to go to Town Hall. Jonas and Ray wish to speak to someone in animal control concerning the recent attacks on cats in town. And all three are concerned that something terrible has happened to Julian St. Jerome. At eight o’clock, the investigators jump in Ivy’s Daimler and head downtown.
Entering Town Hall, the group finds that they can kill two birds with one stone. In addition to the mayor’s office, the building also houses Kingsport’s animal control. Ivy, Jonas, and Ray head upstairs to the mayor’s office, and are greeted by a pleasant secretary, who tells them that Mayor Hoag is not going to be in for the day. Heading back downstairs, the investigators stop at animal control and ask about the recent cat attacks. The animal control technician tells them that the tracks that he found at the scene of the attacks were foreign to him, and that the cats seemed broken rather than ravaged. In his opinion, whatever attacked the cats wasn’t looking for food.
Fearing that all their leads are drying up, the investigators go over their options. There doesn’t seem to be any direct correlation between the strange events that have occurred in Kingsport, except that they all seem relegated to the Central Hill neighborhood and, more specifically, Central Hill Cemetery. Something about the cemetery jogs Ivy’s memory and she suddenly remembers the conversation they had with Julian St. Jerome at the cafe on Sunday. He was going to investigate the area around the cemetery while they followed their leads.
The investigators jump back in the Daimler and quickly make their way to Central Hill Cemetery. Finding the gate open, the group enters cautiously and begins looking for signs of Julian St. Jerome. The gravestones are old – in some cases, crumbling or broken away. Twisting vines and ivy have smothered other gravestones completely. The investigators find it very difficult to locate discernible tracks and are about to leave, when Ray notices something out of the corner of his eye – someone is peering at them from behind one of the taller gravestones.
Ray and Jonas give chase, with Ivy following closely behind. Their quarry – a smallish, disheveled looking man, knows his way around the cemetery better than they do, and the investigators lose sight of him a few times. However, they’re able to pick up his trail, and after another brief chase are able to catch him.
The smell of stale alcohol is prevalent on the hobo, whose slurred speech makes him slightly difficult to understand. He tells the investigators that his name is Davy Harris, and he lives in the cemetery. When asked about Julian St. Jerome, Davy offers to give the investigators some information for five dollars. Ray gladly hands over the cash.
He motions the investigators to follow him, and leads them across the cemetery to some gravestones overlooking Church Street. “That’s where he went,” Harris says. “I see him go in there, yesterday and I think I’ll wait for him, and maybe he’ll give me a dollar. He didn’t come out though. I waited till dark and he never came out.” The investigators ask the hobo if he knows who lives in the house, but he does not. He tells them that he used to see a skinny old man come out of the house once in a while, but that was some time ago.
Thanking Davy Harris for the information, Ivy, Jonas, and Ray walk back to the Daimler. Ivy drives around to Church Street and parks at the corner. The investigators grab their weapons from the trunk and walk cautiously towards the house. Jonas walks up to the front doors and turns the knob, but it is locked. He motions the others to follow, and they proceed to the back door, where Jonas is able to quickly pick the lock.
The house is in a horrible state of disrepair. Paint is flaking, wallpaper has come off the walls, and loose and missing floorboards make it difficult to navigate. There is evidence that someone is living in the house – there are open cans of beans on the kitchen counters, and cans of paint in the corner. As the investigators enter the hallway approaching the front door, they see the beginnings of a renovation project that has been left unfinished. To their left is a bathroom and foyer; to their right is a living room.
Walking in to the living room, the investigators find Julian St. Jerome, who is lying dead near the fireplace in a pool of coagulated blood. Next to the body is a blood-stained poker. Jonas hears something odd from the floor above, and motions Ivy and Ray to follow.
At the top of the stairs, they can see two empty bedrooms and a bathroom. From a partially closed door opposite, they can hear a humming noise. Weapons drawn, Ivy opens the door and Ray and Jonas enter. They see a young man in his late twenties, fast asleep on a bed. Above him, a painting has been moved to reveal a small cavity in the wall. On the nightstand is a strange, glowing crystal emitting a low hum. Walking towards the foot of the bed, Ivy notices a leather-bound journal on the floor and picks it up.
Jonas and Ray join Ivy at the foot of the bed, and she walks to the nightstand and picks up the crystal. Suddenly, the man sits up and stares wildly at the investigators. Shocked by the quickness of his action, Ivy is barely able to move out of the way as the man reaches for a butcher knife from under his pillow and slashes at her. Missing Ivy, the man lunges at Ray and slashes at his face, narrowly missing the barber. Ray, quickly becoming quite proficient with a street howitzer, lifts his shotgun and unloads both barrels into the man, spraying his intestines on to the wall behind him.
The room is silent. Jonas runs outside to ask someone to call the police, while Ivy pockets the crystal (which has stopped glowing and humming) and the journal. The investigators wait for Chief Crane to arrive, and then walk him through the house. The dead man is identified as Allen Nash, who recently inherited the home from his uncle. It seems the renovation project proved too much for him, and he must have lost his mind. By all accounts, he bludgeoned Julian St. Jerome with a poker when he came to ask questions the previous day.
After about an hour at the scene, Chief Crane thanks the investigators for their assistance, and tells them they can go after they’ve given their statements to Officers Lord and White. When they’ve given their statements, they head back to Ivy’s car, where she inconspicuously wraps the journal and crystal in some spare clothes and places them in the trunk.
With the rest of the afternoon and evening at their disposal, the investigators head to the Shoremist Inn to change their blood-speckled clothes and then drive downtown. They stop at a local haberdashery to purchase new suits for Ray and Jonas, and then go to a quaint Italian restaurant for dinner.
At the suggestion of the restaurant owner, Oliveri, the investigators drive to The Rope & Anchor Tavern, a poorly-concealed speakeasy located in the Harborside neighborhood. As Ivy, Jonas, and Ray enter, they’re eyed warily by the bartender and his lower-class clientele. The looks soften, however, when Ivy purchases a round of drinks for the bar. Looking around at the patrons, Jonas and Ray realize that their rubber coats and waders would be perfect for protecting the investigators from splattering blood and entrails. They spend the next few hours discussing where to purchase the outfits, as well as their plans for the following day.
Last call finds all three investigators too drunk to drive (but eager to try). They fight over the car keys and find themselves taking turns behind the wheel of Ivy’s Daimler; Ray drives up on a lawn, Jonas backs the car into a light post, and Ivy knocks down a picket fence. With the prospect of irate locals contacting the police motivating her, Ivy is able to master her faculties and carefully navigate back to the Shoremist Inn, where the landlady, Caroline Wheeden, reluctantly lets them in and mutters something about the the evils of drink.
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